I get that this would be a massive pain, but if you have sufficient time and money it seems like the best way to ensure you slip in somewhere. The main obstacle I see would be that it could be pain for your letter of rec writer, but I understand a fair amount of schools are moving to a common recommendation form, so it should be easier to apply to a bunch of schools now. Is there a reason people only apply to a handful of schools? I have this nightmare of getting in nowhere.
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I applied to 8 schools this past cycle it was almost a full-time second job. Additionally, when it comes time to interview, I was having to fly out two to three times a week - which is a huge burden, whether you are working full time or not. My opinion is that applying to 20 schools would be nearly impossible to execute while maintaining quality, even with the most dedicated effort - you are likely underestimating the time and care you need to put into each application. In sum, consider:
My advice would be to strengthen your profile so that you are competitive at your goal schools, and shoot for a list more along the lines of 4-8 schools, ideally across rounds 1 and 2.
Great comprehensive answer - thanks!
Agree with all of the points made here. There are definitely diminishing returns to applying to more schools and the quality of your applications would start to go down at some point. I personally only applied to 4 schools, and the most I've heard is around 7-8. I can't even imagine juggling 20 school visits, student/alumni chats, interviews, etc.
I did 7 in one round and it was a pain in the ass. There were also only 8 schools I thought we were attending given my goals and preferences (M7 + Haas) and I decided not to apply to Haas after visiting. Regarding interviews, if you are interviewing with alumni and not admissions officers, you can usually do these locally if you live in a big city. The only exceptions I know of where you have to go to campus to interview with admissions officers are HBS, Sloan, and I think Stern.
Most interviews are with students or admissions officers though and the interviews are all day affairs. Wharton, Tuck, YSOM and Booth for example more or less expect you to come to campus if you live nearby. I visited 5 schools before applying and had 5 interviews, which meant 10 vacation days over the course of a few months exclusively devoted to interviewing for business schools. Can't imagine going through that with any more than 5 schools in a round.
Does visiting schools help you in terms of getting admitted or is it just to see whether you would personally like going to school there?
i did my booth, kellogg, and columbia interviews off campus. only MIT made me come to campus from the interviews I received.
Schools will say that visiting doesn't strengthen one's application, but I think visiting gives you a real feel for whether or not you fit with the school's culture. This is a huge decision to make.
If you have a real sense of the school's culture, your interviews and essays will be that much more compelling. Each school is unique in it's own way.
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